Lakers report: Those fighting words are not from Byron Scott

Just what Byron Scott needed: questions about who's posting what on his Instagram account.

The Lakers coach had to release a quasi-apology Tuesday on the popular photo-sharing site, claiming comments that dared a fan to fight were not from him.

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It started when video of Scott sparring in a gym was uploaded to his Instagram account, presumably by someone with legitimate access to it.

An anonymous commenter threatened underneath the photo, "You better have them hands when I see you bruh."

From Scott's account came the retort that the commenter should, "bring it," followed quickly by "And show your face, don't hide."

To which the commenter replied, "I saw you after a game and I was calling your name you kept your head down and went to your car boy."

It led to a final rejoinder from Scott's account: "I'll say it again, bring it."

The exchange was deleted Tuesday. Someone with access to Scott's account posted that it had been hacked, adding, "My social media is only for positive and uplifting things only! God bless Lakers Nation & have a great day!"

One of the Lakers' assistant coaches tipped off Scott to the exchange, he said while meeting with reporters Tuesday night before the Lakers played the Dallas Mavericks.

"I got a good kick out of it, though, when I got to read it," Scott added. "I said, 'Well that kind of sounds like me — somebody talking about doing something, come on over here.' "

Scott said he consulted with the unspecified person running his Instagram account, which had 24,700 followers as of Tuesday.

"He told me that the problem was solved, whatever that means," Scott said. "I don't deal with that electronic stuff. Technology today, I'm not real up on. But I guess I'll ask them a little bit more what's going on with my Instagram and Facebook and all that other crap."

Scott didn't even know what the password was for his account, he said.

"I don't know. I'm serious," he said.

Mistaken identity

Shaquille O'Neal said plenty of illuminating things Monday at an event at Staples Center, including an apparent desire to patch up past quarrels with the Buss family.

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He also made glowing remarks about one of the current Lakers.

"My favorite player on the team now is D'Angelo Russell," he said, extolling praise upon the rookie for being a big man who wasn't afraid of contact.

One problem — he was talking about power forward Julius Randle.

O'Neal quickly corrected himself, saying he was "getting old."

He cracked up the crowd numerous times at the Lakers' "All Access" event sponsored by the LA Sports and Entertainment Commission, but was a tad somber when detailing how happy he was to join TNT as a basketball analyst in 2011.

He mentioned not knowing what to do with himself the first few months after his playing career ended.

"I don't want to use the word 'depression' because I know depression is real, but when you do something the same for 20 years and it all stops, I would wake up and just do stuff I had never done before — go outside and get the paper, look at the birds, go to the store and buy bread," he said. "It was killing me that I didn't have anything to do. Once I got the call, I was actually relieved."